Shielded cable stripper

ABSTRACT

An apparatus to remove the outer insulative jacket of an electrical wire cable wherein an elongated knife blade is fixedly positioned between a pair of housing members, an opening is formed through the housing transverse to the knife blade with the edge of the blade extending within the opening, the point of the knife blade communicating with an elongated groove formed within the edge of the housing members.

United States Patent [191 Johnson SHIELDED CABLE STRIPPER [76] Inventor: William K. Johnson, 17586 Chestnut St., Fountain Valley, Calif. 92708 22 Filed: May 30,1972

21 Appl. No.: 257,911

[52] [1.8. CI. 30/90.6, 30/912 [51] Int. Cl B2lf 13/00 [58] Field of Search 30/901, 90.4, 90.6, 30/908, 91.1, 91.2, 90.7; 8l/9.5 R, 9.5 A, 9.5 C

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,092,906 6/1963 Deering 30/906 1 Dec. 11, 1973 2,903,064 9/1959 Blonder 30/904 X 1,977,677 10/1934 Hill .1 30/901 X 3,238,618 3/1966 Cook 30/904 Primary Exa minerJames L. Jones, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Mark S. Bicks Attorney-Jack C. Munro [57] ABSTRACT An apparatus to remove the outer insulative jacket of an electricalwire cable wherein an elongated knife blade is fixedly positioned between a pair of housing members, an opening is formed through the housing transverse to the knife blade with the edge of the blade extending within the opening, the point of the knife blade communicating with an elongated groove formed within the edge of the housing members.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures SHIELDED CABLE STRIPPER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of this invention relates to hand tools and more particularly is directed to a tool designed for the purpose of stripping insulation from covered wire for cables in order that proper electrical connections of the same may be made.

During an electricians daily routine, he must constantly cut wire to length and strip insulation from the ends of wires in order to make necessary connections. The most common way in which an electrician strips insulation from wire is through the use of a conventional razor blade or knife. This method of stripping insulation is quite time consuming as well as being exceedingly old. Frequently, electrical cable employs a metallic sheet around the electrical wires with the metallic sheet being covered by an outer layer of insulated material. It is sometimes desirable for the electrician to only remove the outer covering and not effect removable or damage to the metallic sheet. Using a conventional razor blade or knife, it is frequently that such metallic sheet is readily damaged and may even be removed in segments.

In the past there have been devised numerous types of wire strippers. However, such previous strippers have employed a complex arrangement of multiple blades which results in the strippers being substantially bulky in size. Additionally, the arrangement of blades results in the extending of the blade slightly past the stripper housing which can result in the blade cutting the electricians body or, clothes when the stripper is carried in close proximity thereto.

Additionally, it is frequently desirable that a mass of wires be stripped in a particularly close quarter situation. An example of such a close quarter situation would be within the fuselage of an airplane during manufacture. It has been found that the use of a conventionalrazor blade or knife to strip wire in such a situation is an extremely tedious operation as well as causing the electrician to tire quickly. Because the strippers of the prior art have been designed to be bulky in size, the use of such strippers in such tight quarter situations have not been feasible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary objective of this invention is to provide an improved wire stripper which may be conveniently held in ones hand and is so constructed whereby it may be readily adjusted for the particular size of wire to be stripped, so that the insulation may be readily stripped from the wire and at the same time assuring that the wire will in no way be damaged. Another feature of this invention is to provide an improved wire stripper which is extremely small in size and capable of being easily held in ones hand, whereby it maybe easily manipulated in the use thereof, and when not being used, may be readily suspended from the electricians equipment or contained within the electricians pocket without fear of damage to clothes or injury to person.

The apparatus of this invention provides for the use of a two-piece housing which when connected together forms a space in between comprising a slit. Within the slit is to be supported a knife blade having a sharpened elongated blade. The point of the knife blade is to extend just beyond an aligned lower edge of the pair of housing membersThe. lower edge ofthe housing'mem bers are to be relieved so as when cooperating together forming an elongated groove. The elongated groove is to facilitate cooperation with a wire or cable to effect the elongated cutting of the insulative jacket thereon. The body portion of the knife blade is to extend within a transverse opening formed within the housing members. The wire or cable may be readily passed through the transverse opening to be located adjacent the knife blade, and upon the apparatus or the wire cable being rotated therein, a circumferential cut is formed upon the outer insulative jacket. A bifuracted pivot bar is pivotly attached to the housing members and is adapted to come into contact with the wire or cable which is passed through the transverse opening. The pivot bar is to facilitate the forcing of the wire or cable toward the knife blade so as to facilitate cutting of the outer insulative jacket of a diameter wire or cable which is smaller than the size of the opening. An adjustment screw cooperates between the housing members and is to be in contact with the knife blade to adjust the extension of the knife blade within the transverse opening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an overall isometric view of the apparatus of this invention showing a wire or cable cooperating with the transverse opening in order to produce a circumferential cut thereon;

FIG. 2 is a bottom isometric view of the apparatus of this invention depicting the procedure for producing an elongated cut upon the outer insulative jacket of a wire or cable;

FIG. 3 is a broken away isometric view showing the cooperation of the knife blade with respect to one of the housing members;

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of the outer insulative jacket of the wire or cable upon such having been removed; and

FIG. 5 is an exploded isometric view of the apparatus .of this invention showing the complete construction of the apparatus of this invention.

. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SHOWN EMBODIMENT Referring particularly to the drawing, there is shown in FIG. 1 the apparatus 10 of this invention which is basically composed of a housing 12, a knife blade 14, and a pivot bar assembly 16. The housing 12 is formed into a first housing member 18 and a second housing member 20. The housing members 18 and 20 are substantially mirror images with respect to each other and include relieved sections 22 and 24 respectively. The relieved sections 22 and 24 are formed upon one cooperating edge of the members 18 and 20. With the members l8 and 20 located together as shown in FIG. 1 of the drawing, the relieved sections 22 and 24 cooperate to form an elongated groove.

The aft area of the first member 18 and the second member 20 are formed in an integral section 30. The height of the, section 30 is slightly greater than the thickness of the blade 14.

The knife blade 14 includes an elongated sharpened edge 32 which terminates in a sharp point 34. The knife blade 14 is to extend within the slit 28 so that the point 34 just extends slightly within the groove formed by the cooperation of the relieved sections 22 and 24. Also, a portion of the sharpened edge 32 is to just extend within'the confines of a transverse opening 36 which is formed by a pair of aligned openings within the first member 18 and the second member 20. A set screw 38 is threaded through the integral section 30 to come into direct contact with the knife blade 14. The function of the set screw 38 will be explained further on in the specification.

The knife blade 14 is to be positioned where desired within the slit 28 and upon the desired position being achieved, screws 40 are tightened to therefore fixedly position the knife blade 14 in between the members 18 and 20.

Pivot bar assembly 16 includes first leg 42 and the second leg 44. Leg 42 is pivotly connected by screw 46 to the first member 18. The second leg 44 is pivotly connected by screw 48 to the second member 20. It is to be noted that the axes of the screws 46 and 48 coincide.

A sleeve 50 is secured between the free ends of the legs 42 and 44 by means of screw fasteners 52 and 54. The pivot bar assembly 16 pivotly moves with respect to the housing 12 so that the legs 42 and 44 are capable of passing by opening 36.

The apparatus of this invention is to be employed to remove the outer insulative jacket 56 (shown in FIG. 4 of the drawing) form an electrical wire or cable 58. The operator is to first place the apparatus 10 of this invention upon the cable with the groove formed by the relieved sections 22 and 24 cooperating about the wire or cable 58. The operator'then forcibly moves the apparatus 10 of this invention along the wire or cable 58 which results in the point 34 of the knife blade 14 forming an elongated cut 60 within the wire or cable. Once the cut 16 has been formed of the desired length, the operator then removes the apparatus 10 of this invention from the wire or cable 58.

The operator then places the free end of the wire or cable 58 through the opening 36. The wire or cable 58 is extended through the opening 36 an amount to be determined by the operator. The operator then moves manually the pivot bar assembly 16 so that the legs 42 and 44 come into contact with the wire or cable 58. The operator then exerts a slight force against the wire or cable 58 tending to force such in a particular direction in respect to the opening 36. This particular direction within the opening 36 is toward the sharpened edge 32 of the knife blade 14. This edge 32 just communicates within the opening 36 a slight amount. Actually, this amount will be almost exactly the thickness of the jacket 56. The operator then either effects rotation of the apparatus 10 circumferentially about the wire or cable 58 or vice versa. This results in a circumferential cut being formed within the jacket 56.

At this time an elongated cut 60 has been formed within the jacket 56 and a circumferential cut. The operator then removes the apparatus 10 out of cooperation with the wire or cable 58 and can then easily manually slip off the outer jacket 56. With the outer jacket 56 now having been removed, the operator is then free to make an appropriated electrical connection, soldered or otherwise, to the electrical wires contained therein.

It can be readily seen that by adjustment of the screw 38, the amount'of the extension of the knife blade 14 into the opening 36 can be readily controlled. In order to make this adjustment, screws 40 are to be loosened permitting movement of the knife blade 14 within the housing 12. By rotation of the set screw 38 and the desired position having been achieved, the screws 40 are again tightened.

I claim:

1. An apparatus to remove the outer insulative jacket of an electricalwire cable comprising:

a single piece housing, said housing having a slit formed; partially therethrough with a portion of said housing being integrally connected together;

an opening formed through said housing and transverse to said slit, said opening communicating with said slit;

an elongated groove formed within the edge of said housing, said slit communicating with said elongated groove;

a single knife blade having a sharpened edge terminating in a point, said knife blade located within said slit and secured to said housing by a fastening means, said knife blade having a back section extending exteriorly of said slit, said point extending slightly into said elongated groove, said sharpened edge extending slightly into said opening, whereby upon the wire cable being rotated within said opening a circular through cut is to result within the outer insulative jacket of the cable, and whereby the cable may be located within the elongated groove and moved relative to the housing causing an elongated cut to result to the outer insulative jacket; bifurcated pivot bar connected to said housing with a single leg of said bar being pivotally connected on each side of said housing, said pivot bar located adjacent said opening, said pivot bar being movable to contact a cable which is conducted through said opening, said means to facilitate the application of force to cause the cable to contact said knife blade communicating within said opening, said back section of said knife blade to contact said pivot bar thereby functioning as a stop to limit the amount of movement of said pivot bar; and an adjustment screw threadably connected within said housing and adapted to contact said knife blade, said adjustment screw located adjacent said opening, by positioning of said adjustment screw the extending of said knife blade within said opening can be precisely controlled. 

1. An apparatus to remove the outer insulative jacket of an electrical wire cable comprising: a single piece housing, said housing having a slit formed partially therethrough with a portion of said housing being integrally connected together; an opening formed through said housing and transverse to said slit, said opening communicating with said slit; an elongated groove formed within the edge of said housing, said slit communicating with said elongated groove; a single knife blade having a sharpened edge terminating in a point, said knife blade located within said slit and secured to said housing by a fastening means, said knife blade having a back section extending exteriorly of said slit, said point extending slightly into said elongated groove, said sharpened edge extending slightly into said opening, whereby upon the wire cable being rotated within said opening a circular through cut is to result within the outer insulativE jacket of the cable, and whereby the cable may be located within the elongated groove and moved relative to the housing causing an elongated cut to result to the outer insulative jacket; a bifurcated pivot bar connected to said housing with a single leg of said bar being pivotally connected on each side of said housing, said pivot bar located adjacent said opening, said pivot bar being movable to contact a cable which is conducted through said opening, said means to facilitate the application of force to cause the cable to contact said knife blade communicating within said opening, said back section of said knife blade to contact said pivot bar thereby functioning as a stop to limit the amount of movement of said pivot bar; and an adjustment screw threadably connected within said housing and adapted to contact said knife blade, said adjustment screw located adjacent said opening, by positioning of said adjustment screw the extending of said knife blade within said opening can be precisely controlled. 